


From the Shadows

by mayawrites95 (mayarox95)



Series: Wish Upon A Star [158]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-01
Updated: 2015-08-01
Packaged: 2018-05-30 11:27:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6422116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mayarox95/pseuds/mayawrites95
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: You know how Emma kept saying that she needs her own place ? So while she is missing/being Dark Swan Killian and Henry find the perfect house by the sea and they bond. One night Emma peeks through the window and see her boys and she hears them talking about fighting for her and loving her</p>
            </blockquote>





	From the Shadows

She’s always watching from the shadows. Despite the rules of the dagger, she has enough willpower to prevent herself from being summoned every time someone tries.

She can’t see them like this. Emma knows how much it kills Killian when she is swept up by the darkness, and she knows how consumed he is in trying to find her. She wishes she can go to him, and touch his face. To tell him that it will be okay and that she still loves him. The darkness might be trying to corrupt her, but she refuses to let herself forget how much her family means to her and how much she wants to get back to him.

He drinks himself to sleep for the first few nights, and she knows that he thinks he lost her. He’s scared out of his mind and despite how hard he fights during the day to bring her back, his mind is penetrable at night and he can no longer hide the thoughts plaguing his mind.

She knows her parents are trying to help him, but they’re so busy trying to raise Neal and trying to find her, that it’s easy for them to forget just how much Killian loves her.

He may never have said the words to her, but his actions have been screaming them since Neverland where he decided to abandon his own selfishness for her. Everything he’s done since then has been because he loves her and her family.

She can see that Henry is bonding more with Killian in her absence. As hard as Regina tries to help their son, it’s hard for her to give him what he needs. She can tell that the once Evil Queen is rather annoyed at her for taking control of the darkness meant for her. The conversation between her and Robin is not lost to her when Regina mentions how easy it would have been for herself to have been consumed when everyone already hated her once. In a moment of self-pity, the woman wonders to her boyfriend if everyone would be trying as hard to save her as they do Emma.

She hasn’t always been the biggest fan of the former Mayor, but she wishes she could reassure her that they would do the same for her. She is family after all.

Killian eventually moves out of Granny’s, and she knows that he hated the room there, only staying since his ship was unavailable. She expects him to move back onto the Jolly, but upon further spying, she realises he’s looking at advertisements for houses instead.

When he buys one, she looks over the house discreetly, and learns that it overlooks the sea. It’s less than five minutes from the diner but still secluded..

She learns that Henry plans on moving in with her boyfriend. Neither his grandparents nor other mother is entirely sold on the idea, but he reasons with them that his mom has Robin, and his grandparents have each other and Neal. But Killian has no one.

She’s proud of him for that, and she knows the gesture is in no way selfless, seeing how much her son loves her pirate as well.

She watches from the shadows some days, and can tell that they spend more time researching how to get her back than they do other things like sleeping or relaxing. There are moments Killian teaches Henry things, and they bond, like how to tie different sailor knots, or how to read a star map. It hurts her heart because she wants more than anything to be there with them.

The darkness is growing inside of her, and she wonders how much longer she will have any control over it. She finds it ironic that her parents went to such measures to keep her light, yet it was her own selfless choice that turned her evil in the end.

She listens in one day as she hears her name being mentioned.

“What if we can’t save her?” Henry whispered, looking down. “It’s been months and Merlin still hasn’t figured out how to get rid of the darkness.”

“We will,” Killian reassured her son, his jaw setting. “Have faith, Henry. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about this family, it’s that we never stop fighting for the ones we love. And if it turns out that there is no way to get rid of the darkness, then we will accept Emma for it. Belle loved Rumplestilskin despite it, and I can promise you that nothing can stop me from loving her.”

Henry smiled softly at that, “I just wish I could see her, you know? Why doesn’t she come when we call?”

“She’s probably scared,” Killian said, predicting her actions well. “She’s afraid we won’t love her the same way now that she’s ‘dark’. But she needs to know that she’s still ours and that regardless of what happens.”

She wonders if he knew that she was listening in. When she asks him about it later on, he admits to her that he always felt her presence, and that he wanted her to know how much he cares for her.

When they’re finally ready to remove the darkness from her, she allows herself to be summoned for the first time. The look of relief on Killian’s face makes her want to kiss him senseless, but she refrains, knowing there will be plenty of time for such a thing in the future.

She barely pays attention as they remove the darkness from her. She’s focused on Henry and on Killian, and as soon as the darkness is gone, she rushes toward them, holding him both closely to her. She murmurs words of love and compassion to them both. Henry is bubbling on about their new place, and she doesn’t tell him that she knows already just yet, while Killian gives her a loving look.

“Emma,” he says softly, wrapping his arms around her waist. She takes comfort with his warmth, holding him tightly against her as she had wished she could do so frequently when she was gone. “I love you, Swan,” he told her. “And I want you to hear it. I love you so much more than you could ever know, and I always will love you”

“I love you too,” she told him for the second time.

Later that night, his arms hold her close to his body. There was little need for sleep as the Dark One, but as she feels safe in their new house, she closes her eyes and lets the waves lull her to sleep. She knows she’s safe now, and at home. And despite the loneliness she felt in her absence from the town, she has never felt as at ease as she does right now.


End file.
